Many of today's human maladies are highly contagious, readily transmissible, and, in some cases, medical cures have not yet been discovered. For example, AIDS has become a serious health threat and has reached epidemic proportions around the world. Presently, there is no cure for AIDS or for the HIV virus that causes AIDS. While having the HIV virus does not necessarily mean that a person will contract AIDS, because of its contagiousness and transmissibility, it is important to know whether a person is infected with the HIV virus.
Both HIV and AIDS are not inherited but are acquired. HIV is passed from one person to another as through the transference of body fluids such as infected blood, semen or vaginal fluids. Accordingly, HIV is often transmitted by unprotected vaginal, anal, or oral sexual intercourse, or through the sharing of hypodermic needles by intravenous drug users. Infants can also acquire HIV from their mothers during pregnancy or delivery.
A fundamental step in preventing the spread of HIV and AIDS is to inform those people who are infected about their condition. Hopefully, once someone knows they are infected they will take extra precaution in their activities thereby containing the spread of the disease. While a cure for the HIV and AIDS has not yet been found, the medical community has developed accurate tests to detect the presence of HIV antibodies in the blood stream. The most recognized tests are known as the Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) and the Western Blot tests. By combining these highly effective tests, test results can be approximately 99.7 percent accurate. There are other tests available and more are being developed that can test for HIV antibodies and the AIDS virus.
HIV antibodies develop in the blood stream after someone is infected with HIV. These antibodies can take up to six (6) months to develop before being detected by the ELISA and Western Blot tests. Accordingly, immediate infection with HIV virus is not necessarily detectable.
Even though the tests for HIV are highly accurate, many people are reluctant to have themselves tested. A fundamental reason for this reluctance is fear: the fear of death and the stigma of having AIDS. Not only do people with AIDS have to deal with this devastating and terminal disease, but they also have to deal with the potential that they may be discovered and thereafter severely discriminated against.
The general populace's prejudice and fear stem from many different things. One reason is general discrimination towards homosexual men. The homosexual male population was one of the first communities heavily affected by AIDS. Accordingly, AIDS became known as a gay disease and people with AIDS are assumed to be gay. Also, the repercussions of someone finding out that the person being tested has a particular human malady such as AIDS can result in severe consequences such as loss of employment, loss of insurance, sometimes loss of housing, and even loss of family and friends.
A deeper element to the problem is based in the public's general lack of understanding about how one can contract the HIV virus. Casual contact does not promote the spread of the disease. However, until the public understands this, people with AIDS tend to be ostracized from their community at a time when they need the most support. Adults have been fired from their jobs, and children have been locked out of their schools.
Problems for people with HIV and AIDS are also present in the medical community. People with HIV and AIDS can find it hard to find a doctor that will treat them, and quite often insurance companies are unwilling to pay for the necessary and expensive treatments that AIDS patients require.
Taking into account these factors, the decision to take an HIV antibody test is a difficult choice to make. However, there are many good reasons to do so, such as: a need to know; anxiety relief; protecting oneself; protecting one's sexual partners; protecting one's children; and obtaining early medical intervention.
People are still afraid to take a test, however, for the fear that others will find out if the test is positive. There are procedures to ensure that one's HIV status is protected from others. Confidentiality and the ability of the person taking the test to remain completely anonymous remains a serious problem with prior art test kits. Experts remain of the opinion that confidentiality/anonymity remains a serious concern and a major obstacle when attempting to find a solution to the AIDS epidemic. While testing appears to be the answer, maintaining patient confidentiality/anonymity is the problem. There is no system or method, however, that completely protects the identity of the person who has submitted themselves for HIV tests.
In the past, systems have been developed that attempt to protect individuals from the general dissemination of test results. Medical practices and policies, like the doctor-patient privilege, attempt to shield people with AIDS from embarrassing exposure and public ridicule. There are clinics which have procedures for anonymous testing. These clinics use number identifiers to protect patient confidentiality. However, the patient must appear at the clinic where he or she could be recognized by anyone else at the clinic. Accordingly, complete anonymity is difficult to maintain.
Tests have been developed and marketed that allow people to take a blood sample at home and mail it to a medical laboratory for analysis, e.g., Briggs et al. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,777,964 and 4,979,515. These tests offer anonymity because the user does not appear at a laboratory, hospital or doctor's office. These tests, however, do require the person taking the test to give the laboratory his or her name and address. Thus, complete confidentiality/anonymity for the person being tested is lost thereby discouraging people from taking the test.
Furthermore, the previous personal testing kits have only required the user to supply one blood sample. While often this is sufficient for accurate results, sometimes more than one blood sample is required because multiple tests are needed. It is important to make sure that the results to HIV antibody tests are accurate because of the severe consequences, e.g. death and discrimination, of a positive result.
Accordingly, a medical testing system is needed that is particularly designed to test for the HIV virus and provide the complete confidentiality that allows the user to be completely anonymous. The test should also supply the medical lab with enough of the test specimen to ensure that the test result is as accurate as possible. The presently described invention addresses these mentioned needs.